HISTORY
Photo: Royal Air Force
THE VERY LAST OF THE FEW
TEXT: MIRO BARIČ
No. 85 Squadron pilots at Church Fenton airbase. From the left F/O John Hemingway, P/O Geofrey Howitt, F/O James
Marshall and kneeling is S/Ldr Peter Townsend with the unit’s mascot Kim. All the way to the right is F/O William Carnaby
with a propeller blade carrying marks of more than 140 kills achieved by the squadron.
There were already very few left 81 years ago. Winston Churchill nicknamed them The Few. Today
only one is still alive. John Hemingway, the last
pilot who in 1940 took part in the Battle of Britain.
The Battle of Britain lasted from July 10, 1940, till
the end of October 1940 with the heaviest fighting
taking place in August and September. According to the official statistics 2937 aviators from
RAF fighter units participated in it. They were
decorated with the Battle of Britain Pin which
was awarded to fighter squadrons‘ members
for at least one combat mission during that period of time. In addition to the fighter pilots, the
members of the RAF Bomber and Coastal Command units participated in the Battle. They flew
reconnaissance missions over the ocean and
attacked the landing crafts gathered by Germans
in the ports of the occupied Europe.
Britons lost 1,500 aircraft in total, and 544 fighter pilots were killed. Moreover 718 bomber aircrews and 280 members of the Coastal Commad
lost their lives. German losses amounted 2,000
aircraft, almost 2,600 aviators were killed and
another 900 were taken prisoners of war. More
than 14,000 British civilians were killed during
the bombing raids. Not only Britons fought in
the Battle. Out of 2,937 fighter pilots there were
2,342 of them, the rest was represented by other
nationalities. The Battle of Britain Pin was awarded to 145 Polish pilots, 127 New Zealanders, 112
Canadians, 88 Czechoslovaks, 32 Australians,
28 Belgians, 25 South Africans, 13 Frenchmen,
6
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10 Irishmen, nine Americans, three airmen from
Rhodesia and one each for pilots from Barbados,
Jamaica, and Newfoundland. On the German
He could not stand bloodallies took part in the
smaller scale bombing raids.
Nezniesol krv
One of ten Irish veterans of the Battle of Britain
is John „Paddy“ Hemingway. He was born on
July 17, 1919, to a rich family in Dublin. Contrary to the prevailing catholic religion in Ireland,
his family was of the Anglican faith. He received
the private education and was a member of the
boys‘ choir in the ancient St. Patrick’s cathedral
in Dublin. According to his own words he was
not very successful in this, and his career was
not headed in that direction. His parents wanted
him to become a surgeon, but this career was
marred by one substantial detail – John Hemingway could not stand looking at blood. In 1937 his
father brought him to London for an interview
with the RAF resulting in his acceptance in 1938.
At that time little did he suspect that he will see
pools of bloods pretty soon. After he completed
the fighter training in the spring of 1939, he was
assigned to No. 85 Squadron equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. While serving with this unit, on
September 3, 1939, he was caught up with the
Britain’s entry in the WWII. They woke him up and
ordered him to get ready for a scramble. When
20 years old Paddy was running across the Debden airbase tarmac to his Hurricane, he realized it was all for real. He promised to himself
to learn and master everything regardless of the
circumstances. Later this commitment helped
him on many occasions.
First victories
Hemingway’s No. 85 Squadron became the part
of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force in France. The squadron was mostly
engaged in the air patrols over the Channel. As
a part of a bet Paddy grew moustache while in
France and he continued wearing it until now.
The relative lull in fighting ended on May 10, 1940,
when the current sitzkrieg escalated into blitzkrieg. At Lille/Seclin airbase, home of No. 85
Squadron, the alarm was sounded at 04.10. On
that day John Hemingway flew four sorties and
during one of them he shot down a Heinkel He
111 bomber. On the day he added also Dornier Do
17 to his score but while attacking the German
motorized convoys he was hit by flak and had
to make an emergency landing near Maastricht.
He joined the crowd of fleeing Belgium citizens
and on May 15, 1940, the British Army got him
back to Lille/Seclin base. During this period Hemingway stuck a close friendship with Richard
Hugh Anthony Lee, nicknamed Dickie. Their fates were similar in many ways. During the blitzkrieg opening days, Lee shot down even four
German airplanes and since he had shot down
He 111 from Stab/KG4 into the sea near Boulogne
INFO Eduard - October 2021